


Trace Evidence

by snoozingkitten



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Police, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-11-12 05:41:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18004898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snoozingkitten/pseuds/snoozingkitten
Summary: A slice of life-- if your life revolves around murders and love.





	Trace Evidence

**Author's Note:**

> A BIG thanks to [Saintroux](https://archiveofourown.org/users/saintroux/pseuds/saintroux) for a stellar beta job. An absolute pleasure to work with, do recommend. 10/10 stars. 
> 
> _Bring your fandom to work for people with the least sexy jobs._ I may watch too much tv.

The Allegheny medical examiner’s office dealt with more than six thousand cases per year. 

The sun wasn’t even up yet and Sidney’s breath misted in the air when he stepped out of the warmth of his car. Sidney clicked the lock on his key fob and the lights on his SUV flashed twice in the darkness with a cheery little beep that did nothing to lighten the fact that it was 0600 on a Monday morning. 

The building itself was utilitarian, two levels in solid brick. There was a loading bay to the north side where the body transport vans and funeral homes would park to unload cargo. Sidney sipped at his mug, hot tea chasing the chill in his fingers as he carefully strode across the parking lot. It hadn’t been salted yet and the slush had frozen during the cold night. 

It had been hard to leave the bed that morning, curled in the soft duvet full of trapped body heat. The other half of the bed was cold and hadn’t been disturbed all night. The blankets were lighter weight because he was used to sharing warmth with a human octopus, but it was considerably cooler when he was alone. Today was an off-day from his morning training routine, most days of the week he would be out for a run to work through the last of the sleep from his bones. 

The door to the building was ice cold, and inside the vestibule wasn’t much warmer.He stomped his feet a few times to dislodge any snow and salt and swiped his badge on the inner doors to let himself in. The secretary’s office was closed and dark this early in the morning. The motion activated lights in his office lit up as he entered. 

Books lined the shelf. He had framed both his degrees and accreditation license and hung them on the wall. Photos of his family and a small collection of silly hockey knick-knacks lined his desk, tiny ghosts of birthdays and Christmases past. It was getting to be that time of year again: cold settling in for the long haul, Thanksgiving gone and endless holiday music piped through every store. Like she was on a timer, his mother had been texting him increasingly unsubtle hints about coming home for the holidays. He hadn’t managed to convince her yet that he was staying here this year, not without giving her a really good reason why. 

Sidney sipped at his cup as his computer booted up. The situation posed a bit of a conundrum. He loved his mother and he loved his family. 

Sidney spent the next half an hour answering emails and looking through a subpoena for the following week. It was a district attorney he had worked with a number of times before. She was good at her job, a bit chatty and a little heavy handed with the flirting but good with leading questions. 

The medical examiner’s office came to life around him as people began to filter in. Sidney answered a number of cheerful ‘morning’s as people passed by his open door. 

 

The day’s case was a young man. 

Alex Reed, 27 years old, found dead in his home by his mother who came to drop off frozen food for the week. Last contact was by text message the afternoon before. The scene was in disarray and covered in soot from an attempted fire. The police had already sent the photos ahead of the case so he could go over the scene prior to beginning the post mortem. 

Sidney was still changing when he heard the police come in. He pulled his scrub pants on and tied them off. 

“Morning,” He said. Amanda, the local ident officer, looked exhausted, but gave him a tired smile. Her hair was greasy and the edges of her mascara smudged, though maybe that was just the bruising under her eyes. 

“What’s up?” She asked, pulling shoe covers on over her boots. She was one of the best ident officers the department had and Sidney desperately hoped that the force wouldn’t burn her out too quickly. He had seen many ident officers come and go, the hours were long and tiring and the conditions usually less than ideal. Her brother was also a police officer, a homicide detective that Sidney played Sunday pick-up games with from time to time. 

“New day, new week,” Sidney said blandly. 

“Yeah, something like that,” She laughed, clearly on the tail end of what was already a long day. 

He grabbed a plastic apron off the shelf as well as his safety glasses. He held the door open for her as she shuffled past pulling her particulate mask over her face and maneuvering her gear with one hand. 

He barely even paused when he saw who Jake was talking to: a tall, lean vision of a gorgeous and exhausted man. Sidney grinned, “Hey.” 

Geno looked up; his face lit up instantly. “Sid,” He greeted. 

“This is your case then,” Sidney said. It wasn’t a question. 

Sidney was used to playing it casual around him. As if there wasn’t a small part of him that was constantly tracking Geno when he was in the same room. He wandered over to the wall of equipment and pulled down a pair of sleeves made of lightweight waterproof material. He cut holes in them for his thumbs and pulled them on. 

“Been working it all night,” Geno agreed. Sidney had noticed. 

Despite the almost twenty-six hours Geno had to have been working by now, he still looked good. His suit was too nice to be off the hanger. It was dark grey with a subtle pattern, tailored to hug his impossibly long legs and narrow waist. 

Sidney was biased, given he was the one fucking Geno on the regular. 

Sidney knew for a fact that the view was just as good from behind and even better off. That suit was his favourite. “Anything else to add about the case?” he asked. Amanda was clattering around on the spare table getting her equipment all set up, getting evidence boxes and different lenses out. 

They both paused as the door opened and a man poked his head through. He was tall with short, light, almost red hair. “Dr. Crosby?” the man asked.

“That’s me.” 

He smiled, sharp and thin. “Great, my name is Claude, I’m from the office of the Fire Marshal, do you mind if I stay for the post mortem?” 

“No problem,” Sidney said, gesturing at the rest of the otherwise empty autopsy suite. 

Claude set up next to Geno pulling out his notebook and setting it on the table next to Geno and Amanda. 

“Shall we go over everything make sure we are all on the same page?” Sidney asked his gallery of crime fighters. 

“Sure.” Geno stood from his slouch, pulling himself up to his full six foot plus height. “We have a suspect in holding right now.” His voice barely even hitched, but he wouldn’t meet Sidney’s eyes. “His lover states they got into a fight and he hit him once, Reed fell hitting his head and died. He panicked and tried to light the house on fire.” 

_Ah._

“The incident happened yesterday approximately 1700 last night, a neighbor called nine-one-one when they saw the smoke and when EMS and Fire arrived they found the deceased on the floor. They pulled him out and EMS confirmed he was already dead.” 

Sidney nodded and reached for a pair of gloves. 

“It was a pretty sloppy arson attempt,” Claude said and shook his head like dumb criminals were anything new to any of them here. 

Amanda snorted but didn’t comment, covering everything in soot made her life hellish. 

“Really?” Jake asked. He was busy setting all of Sidney’s tools out on the cutting board. “What did he do wrong?” 

“One simple rule, if you want to light a fire, start by opening a window. Otherwise your fire isn’t going to burn shit.” Claude said with a small laugh. 

“Well lucky for us,” Geno said returning to his boneless slouch against the table. He had his N95 mask pulled uselessly down around his chin. 

Geno looked a little tense to Sidney’s experienced eye, the usually plush curve of his mouth caught in a tiny pout. Geno spent so much time worrying about what people were going to think of them, what would happen if anyone found out about their relationship. Sidney couldn’t control what the other detectives had to say and but desperately wished he could. There had been a time when Geno had been ready to fully move in with him, meet his mom, maybe even agree to some tasteful rings. 

Overheard callous words in the work locker room almost tore them apart. 

Geno had been frightened, and understandably so. A lot of his relatives still lived in Russia; it wasn’t such an embracing community. Sidney’s mother would love Geno, and he had no doubts Geno would love her too. Geno just couldn’t--maybe one day but it was beginning to look like this holiday season wouldn’t be the one. 

Sidney turned to Jake. “Are we ready to get started?” 

“Yes,” Jake replied.

Sidney gave his small audience a nod. The checklist was a formality, but it was a good habit. “This is Alex Reed. We will be conducting a full post mortem examination, so please do a layered dissection of the chest and back. There are no infectious risks,” Sidney said.

“He _was_ gay wasn’t he?” Jake asked, his eyes looking so earnest. Sidney’s heart sank. 

“He wasn’t sick,” Geno said. Sidney didn’t look at him, “that anyone knew of.” 

Jake nodded and got out his ruler for measurements. It was common for them to make assumptions from cases of injection drug use and infectious risks. 

Amanda took overall photographs of the body while it was in the bag, close ups of the face still splattered with blood. 

Sidney moved around the body in a slow circle, keeping just out of her way and jotting down notes as he went. Short dark hair. Blue eyes, pupils equal sized. Covered in a fine layer of soot on his right side only. Blue blood-stained jeans and a white blood-stained sweater. 

Sidney could tell just by looking at him that it hadn’t been an accidental fall, this boy had been beaten, the only question was whether the fire killed him or something else? 

Jake undressed him while Sidney documented the clothing. There was a pack of cigarettes in the front pocket and a silver ring on his ring finger. Sidney noted it down. It wasn’t his job to wonder about the accused or their relationships. But that simple little silver band could have meant everything to him or it could have just been a fashion statement. 

Once he was undressed, Jake rolled him so Sidney could see his back. There was actually a laceration on the back of his head consistent with a fall, blood still dripping from it into the body bag. Jake reached around him to gather the bag up under the body so it could just be pulled out the other side without having to lift the body up to get the him out of the bag. 

“Get him out and cleaned off, unless you want trace samples?” 

Sidney looked over at Geno who looked at Amanda. They seemed to share a brief non-verbal series of head tilts before Geno finally shook his head and said, “No I don’t think we need.” 

“Go ahead,” Sid instructed.

Jake kicked the break on the gurney and spun it around so the drain end was in the sink and the hoses were in reach. Sidney finished a few notes in the margins about the pattern of soot deposition. He watched Geno from the corner of his eye. 

Geno didn’t seem to notice; he was watching Jake with the intent focus of the extremely tired, his bottom lip stuck between his teeth as he worried at it. That was a nervous habit that rarely came out and Sidney hated to see it now when he couldn’t do anything. 

Their job was to see people at their worst, to take in the most horrible things one person could possibly do to another and keep going on the other side of that. It was childish to wish he could somehow shield Geno from the demons in his head, the ones he saw on the street. In his own job, Sidney at least did car crashes and heart attack cases in between those, deaths resulting from pure chance, or from a lifetime of bad decision making. Geno was amazing at his job and he had helped so many people. It wasn’t fair to want to take him away from it, and Geno wouldn’t thank him for even thinking it. That didn’t mean Sidney couldn’t fantasize. 

Sidney grabbed a second pair of gloves and slid them over the ones he was wearing with ease from a bit of talcum powder. Then he grabbed a towel and began the long process of cleaning away blood and smudges of soot. Between the two of them, he and Jake got him cleaned up. The wound on the back of his head continued to drip even as they washed the blood away. 

It wasn’t going to be an open casket funeral. His face had been battered and the nose was broken when Sidney wiggled it, cartilage cracking tellingly under his gloved fingers. There was a gash on the right cheek and a laceration of the lip. There were some tiny abrasions on his knuckles where he might have fought back but it mostly looked like a one-sided fight. 

“Amanda?” Sidney looked up and she blinked at him, huge blue eyes behind her face mask. She straightened up from her painful looking hunch with only a mild wince. He knew for a fact that sometimes the only sleep her team got was in the back of the van. 

“Yeah?” she asked.

“Overall shots now that he is clean and more of the face,” he said.

Jake reached for the ruler with the case number printed on it, and they worked well together getting the shots lined up. Jake always found a way to be around when she came in. Sidney wouldn’t have been surprised if Jake switched with one of the other assistants to be here. It was almost cute the way he turned to Amanda hoping to be noticed. 

Amanda was objectively beautiful, with her ‘All American’ blue eyes and pale hair. But her drive was what drew attention to her, her steadfast work ethic and dry sense of humour. 

“Hold on,” Jake huffed, pulling on the other arm, and finding that the body wouldn’t roll so easily. “Dr. Crosby, I think the shoulder is dislocated.” 

“Thanks.” 

Whatever his end had been, his last moments were not pleasant. 

They got photos of the back. The lividity was bright red all down the back, white where the sharp points of the shoulders had been on the floor. It looked like a rash, blood settling from gravity when a person died. Also a good way to tell if someone had been moved once they died. Sidney frowned. Probably he had been alive when the fire started. Sidney poked at a red spot and watched it blanch under his finger. That fit the timeline as he understood it. Should be mostly fixed going into 24 hours after death.

“It’s pretty red, eh?” Claude was at his side and Sidney shrugged.

“It is pretty bright,” Sidney replied.

“Died in the fire then?” Claude asked. He was close, and in the fluorescent overhead lights Sidney could tell his eyelashes and eyebrows were a darker red than his hair but only by a shade. The white mask obscured the rest of his face. 

“I will know for sure once I open him up and get samples,”

People who died in fires can have soot in their lungs or they can not, but testing the carbon monoxide content in the blood would always give a definitive answer. Given the bright red colour of the lividity, it was likely going to be positive. 

“Okay,” Claude shrugged and went back over to the unused dissection table they had spread the files and equipment out on. 

Sidney caught Geno’s eyes for a moment. His big brown eyes looked dulled from exhaustion, bottom lip still shiny where he had been chewing on it. Sidney did his best to smile behind his mask and project it through the space between them. Geno looked away when Claude murmured something to him, Geno leaning down so he could hear Claude better. 

“From top to bottom, starting with the face,” Sidney directed. Jake knew what he liked but Sidney liked to make sure everyone was on the same page. 

Amanda busied herself switching out her lens. 

Jake measured each of the bruises and lacerations while Sidney jotted them down and Amanda documented each one on film. They flipped the eyelids back: no petechial hemorrhage to indicate neck compression. One of the front teeth was broken. 

They worked their way down the body together in a good rhythm. 

Not all cases were sad. People died just the same as people were born. In Sidney’s world, entrails from a person hit by a train were just a Thursday, a stabbing no different than a staff meeting. Not all case made you feel for the deceased; you couldn’t feel for every body or you wouldn’t make it. 

This one was different only because Geno was standing right there watching them. The angle of his mouth was twisted down at the edges, and there was a slight slump in his shoulders that might’ve just been exhaustion, but Sidney didn’t think so. He knew Geno like his tongue knew the backs of his teeth, always there and nagging when something was wrong or different. This one was bothering Geno and so it was bothering Sidney. 

“It doesn’t look like he fought back,” Amanda said, echoing what Sidney had noticed earlier. 

“Yeah,” Jake agreed quickly with her. 

Some scrapes on his knuckles, three large bruises on his arms which indicated that he had at least tried to ward off his attacker. His lover. 

All the bruises were the same age, peri-mortem, one of them yellowing on his shin was older and probably unrelated. This didn’t speak of a pattern of physical abuse at least. He had an appendectomy scar. 

Jake whistled, which made Sidney looked away from his notes. It had been hidden by the way his penis was resting but he had a little bar pierced through the underside of it with pretty little pink stones on either side. 

“That’s weird,” Jake said with a frown. 

“What, you don’t have one?” Amanda’s fake surprise brought a smile to his face. Jake clearly wasn’t quite sure how to respond to her teasing. 

“You want me to measure it?” Jake asked instead, pausing just long enough to make it awkward. 

“His penis?” Sidney asked, deadpan. 

“No- I— not that, the bar.” 

Sidney just smiled at him while Amanda, Claude and Geno laughed. 

“Just document it and leave it with the body,” He said, and made a note in his diagram. 

“Their house didn’t seem like they would be into the leather and chains,” Claude mused loud enough to be heard across the room. Whatever Geno said or didn’t say back didn’t carry far enough for Sidney to hear. 

The rest of the external examination went smoothly without any more surprise jewelry at least. Sometimes the things you found tattooed on, inserted inside, or otherwise associated with dead people were shocking. 

“Layered dissection of the chest,” He put his clipboard down and went to grab a scalpel of his own. 

The Y-incision went from the tip of one shoulder to the middle of the chest plate and down around the belly button to the line of wiry hair there. Jake grabbed one half and began to efficiently strip away the skin leaving the muscle behind, when he was far enough out of the way Sidney grabbed his side and began to do the same. The skin peeled away like opening a book. 

There was blotchy bruising down the left side of the muscle that hadn’t been obvious from the skin but showed on the muscles underneath. A lot like he had been attacked by a right handed individual. Amanda took another photo. They peeled back the pec-major to reveal the smaller pec-minor muscle, which was bruised on the right side, where the rib was probably broken underneath. 

Whoever did this had felt strongly about him.

“Organs en bloc, heart blood, femoral blood, get a red top for CO testing and urine,” Sidney rattled off. 

“Sure thing.” Jake replied. 

Amanda had returned to sit with the other police officers and Geno was smiling at her at least-- a big and genuine smile, though Sidney couldn’t hear what they were talking about over the sound of the saw. Amanda and Geno were both Steelers fans, and Sidney knew exactly enough about the NFL to kick Geno’s ass at fantasy league but had never felt the way Geno did about it. Geno picked with his heart and not enough with his head which always gave Sidney the advantage. 

The chest plate came off with a crack as Jake muscled his way through the clavicular joint. Hemorrhage extended into the soft tissues around the bone completely unrelated to Jake sawing through it., Ppeople didn’t bruise once they were already dead, it didn’t matter what happened after. The dead ooze but they don’t bleed. Blood that was there will pool and spill but it won’t collect in soft tissue like that. That was someone with a heart beat taking a hit. 

Sidney left Jake to it. 

Jake moved quickly and easily, self-assured in this as he lifted the lungs out of the chest cavity to check for fluid. 

“It’s dry,” Jake called out. 

“Thank you,” Sidney replied.

Jake was more than capable of taking samples from a fresh body all on his own. It was the decomposing ones that could pose a problem. Slick with the breakdown of fat, the skin slipping off under your hands where it was mummified at the fingers and toes. Not to mention the maggots and the smell. 

Sidney had all the organs out as a block and was holding it up by the aorta, one hand under the liver to flip it over on his cutting board, when the door opened. He looked over his shoulder and was greeted by Detective Kasterova, who was holding as mask to her face as she stepped in. Her heels clicked on the floor with her even confident steps., Ttheat woman used her walk as a weapon. Geno pushed out of his lazy lean and walked over to her. 

She stood close so she could speak low. Geno’s whole body curved down to listen to her. Her heels were small, just enough to give her a little lift so the top of her head reached his chin. Both of them dark haired and lean. 

She was a deeply beautiful woman in an aggressive pant-suit, dark hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. Geno followed her out of the room and Sidney turned back to his board of oozing entrails. 

“Wow,” Claude said softly, and Amanda snorted in response, “so--are they?” 

Sidney cut the heart off the block of organs and set it aside. 

“Phil says scuttlebutt is fifty-fifty” she said with a little shrug.

“I mean, look at them,” Jake said, peeling the scalp forward to expose the skull below and flip it down over the face, cutting the ears by slicing through the ear canals. Sidney’s fingers didn’t even stutter, the knife slicing through flesh sharp and true, _’et tu Guentzel?’_. 

Detective Kasterova was young for her position, and looking the way she did she needed to be smart about it. The world wasn’t an easy place for a beautiful woman who wanted more than what men were content to give her. She did nothing to dissuade these rumours, as being romantically linked to Geno put the fear of god into the other men who otherwise would have treated her like a side of meat pretending she got ahead on her own wit. The police force wasn’t always a fair place. 

In another setting, Sidney could see them happy together, partners in more than work. 

Instead, she was the one person who knew about them. She knew that Geno would be going home to a bed that had two night tables, one with books in Russian and the other with Sidney’s ancient alarm clock. That had been their compromise. Sidney liked Anna; that was never the problem. The problem was with the possessive part of himself. With the hours they both pulled it wasn’t weird for Geno to get called away in the middle of the day or night, or just not to come home at all. The primal urge to mark his territory, make sure she knew that Geno belonged to someone, because Sidney couldn’t imagine anyone spending so much time with him without falling in love. 

“They have a really good arrest record,” Amanda said in a way that sounded like she wasn’t talking about criminals at all. 

Claude laughed. “I bet.” 

Sidney sliced through the heart and traced out the coronary arteries. He didn’t expect to find anything in such a young man besides a touch of atherosclerotic narrowing, but nothing that would lead to a heart attack. Best to focus on work. 

“Skull is ready,” Jake said.

Sidney put the heart down and tried not to drip blood on the floor as he walked over. The underside of the scalp was stained almost black with blood around the cut where the back of his head had hit off the floor. The skull was shiny where there weren’t still strands of connective tissue sticking to it. There was hemorrhage on the left temple seeping into the thin muscle. 

“Photos, then reflect the temporalis muscle and more photos,” he instructed.

Once the muscle at the temple was pulled back there would probably be a skull fracture hiding which could easily kill if the person was hit there. 

With a pair of scissors, Sidney opened the trachea all the way down to the lungs from the back. Inside was thick with mucus and stained with soot. It went all the way down to the bifurcation towards the lungs themselves branching off into the spongy mass of the lungs themselves. 

“Amanda can you come take a photo of this for me please?” Sidney asked.

“Sure thing, Doc,” She said and ducked around his arm so she could take the photo as close up as possible and avoid getting the pooling blood in the background. 

The rest of the viscera was routine. He was an otherwise healthy male, down an appendix. 

There was blood leaking from the cut Jake was sawing into the skull. It caught on the spinning blade of the circular saw and splattered across Jake’s hands. 

“Crosby, it’s bleeding,” Jake called out.

He put down the pancreas he was in the middle of filleting and moved over to see for himself. Unsurprising. An epidural hematoma must have accumulated when there was a fracture of the skull and the blood collected between the brain and the bone. Right over the temple was an artery right under the thin bone which was prone to tearing and bleeding with trauma. A person with a bleed there would seem fine at first until enough blood built up and then they would fall unconscious and very possibly die without medical intervention. 

“Kessel,” Sidney called, and she came over with her camera at the ready. The door opened and closed but Sidney was too focused on the task at hand. 

When the skull cap was finally removed it came out with a clot of blood sitting right over the small fracture he had predicted. Amanda caught a photo of it before the whole thing slid with gravity toward the table, black and jelly-like. 

“Great job,” Sidney grinned. It wasn’t an easy one to take a photo of. Jake smiled at Amanda and Sidney could just see her smiling back. It was one of those things that tended to not be documented because opening the skull disturbed the blood. 

When he looked up, Detective Kasterova was leaning against the table watching with her piercing blue eyes. Sidney waved at her, realizing too late that his hands were coated with blood. She didn’t seem to mind. 

“Weigh the brain, wash it, take photos and keep it for neuropathology to look at,” he told Jake.

The problem with brains was that in a fresh state they had the consistency of cold jello, it was possible to cut them but it wasn’t ideal. If you wanted to get a proper look at them they needed to sit in formalin for at least a week before they were firm enough to cut properly. 

A good defence lawyer would be able to find a reasonable doubt if Sidney didn’t get a good examination of the brain. He wasn’t a brain guy. Better to pass when you didn’t have a good shot. 

“We need to wash out the base of the skull for photos,” Sidney reminded them and Jake nodded. 

Sidney finished up with the organs and slid the tongue and neck structures off his cutting board into the viscera bag. That would get sealed and placed back inside the body cavity to be transported to the funeral home. The only bits they kept were routine fragments of the organs in case further testing was required. 

He tore off the plastic gown and pulled off his arm covers, leaving only the thin examination gloves on. All the bloody kit pieces went into the garbage. He grabbed a diagram of the skull and a pen to map the fractures for future reference. Lawyers and judges often didn’t stomach the pictures well but they loved diagrams. 

\--

“The final diagnosis is that cause of death was suffocation due to smoke inhalation with blunt force head trauma being a contributing factor,” Sidney said. They were sitting around the conference table. New age knights, all looking at Sidney. 

“So, this story the boyfriend told about pushing him once?” Anna asked. She had a certain lilt of her voice when she was being particularly sarcastic. To anyone else it might have sounded sweet but Sidney knew her better than that. 

“Doesn’t fly,” Sidney said and nodded. “There are multiple peri-mortem wounds, two broken ribs on the left lateral side from being struck with a blunt object, size is consistent with a fist but I can’t say what it was for sure, as well as a dislocated shoulder and a occipital laceration. All of this would fit with a beating and a fall.” 

“Would the head trauma have left him unconscious?” Geno asked, tapping his pen on his notebook. His shorthand was frustrating to say the least, even as Sidney watched him write down the words he was saying. 

“I can’t say for sure. I have given the brain over to the neuropathologist they might be able to say more,” Sidney said, shrugging. 

Claude paused his writing to look up with a frown, asking, “you are sure it was smoke inhalation, for the record?” 

“Carboxyhemoglobin came back at 65%,” Sidney confirmed. Toxicology upstairs had run it quickly for him while he was finishing up. 

“Yup,” Claude said, popping the ‘P’, “sounds about right.” Even taking into account him being a smoker that put him well within the potentially lethal range. “Even shit fires are deadly.” 

“Yeah,” Amanda agreed and then yawned, hiding it behind her hand but clearly big enough to make Sidney’s jaw ache in sympathy. 

“Here is my copy of the preliminary findings,” Sidney said and handed them each a copy. It probably wouldn’t change much, but microscopy and toxicology might turn up something to add on as contributing factors. 

“Thanks,” Anna nodded, tucking it into her folder. 

Claude slipped it into his briefcase. Amanda put hers in an envelope. 

Sidney couldn’t stop and say ‘see you later’, couldn’t do anything but push his chair back from the conference table and walk away knowing that Geno knew him well enough to hear all the things that Sidney wanted to say. 

He had paperwork to finish up for other cases, and he had a sudden death to handle in the afternoon. No suspicious circumstances, just a witnessed collapsed after three days of vague chest pain in a middle-aged man. The signs pointed to a heart attack all day, but he wouldn’t know for sure until he opened him up and took a peek himself. 

\--

The house was still and empty when Sidney got home, which was unsurprising if Geno was still on the case. He would likely be home soon; Sidney had helped them put together the narrative of Alex Reed’s last few hours on earth.

Sidney set about cooking dinner. He had finally convinced Geno to eat better, but if Sidney wasn’t there to feed him he would subsist almost entirely on meal replacement bars, egg wraps, and protein shakes. An actual vegetable wasn’t something Geno often picked for himself. 

Geno came home just as dinner was finishing up: fried chicken breast with roasted broccoli and garlic with some wild rice. 

“Smells good,” Geno rumbled from the doorway, half in and half out of his coat.

He looked exhausted, dark smudges under his eyes. His suit looked wrinkled around the edges now, unable to last so many hours of wear. Sidney smiled and set his plate down. 

“Hey you,” he said.

“Hi,” Geno replied and smiled at him, tilting his face down for the welcoming kiss. His lips tasted like stale coffee and salt. 

“Dinner is ready.” 

“Tired,” Geno groaned. He collapsed dramatically against Sidney’s shoulder. Sidney caught him easily around his waist. Geno wasn’t nearly as big as he acted, and Sidney never had much trouble holding him up. Sidney was a solid four inches shorter but outweighed Geno by a good margin. 

“Quit being like that, I might think you hate my cooking,” 

Geno groaned dramatically again and Sidney began moving towards the dining room, mostly ignoring Geno who was draped across his shoulders now. Functionally dragging him along.

“Let me guess, chicken,” Geno murmured against his ear and Sidney failed to bite back a giggle. “You so predictable.” 

Sidney rolled his eyes and poured Geno into a chair opposite his own. Honestly chicken was an easy and lean source of protein, and Geno was full of shit anyways. 

“Thank you,” Geno said, looking at him tenderly from across the table. Sidney smiled back, helpless against anything that put that look on Geno’s face. This was exactly how they’d ended up with a cat. 

Geno ate with a single-minded silence. At first, Sidney worried that the case might be weighing on him, but looking closer Geno was actually just moving slowly overall, eyes drooping. 

Sidney nudged his foot under the table and Geno blinked up at him with a smile. 

“Sid?” 

“Just checking that you’re awake.” 

Geno laughed. 

“Yes, Sid,” he said. “Very interesting chicken keep me awake.” 

“You’re a dick,” Sidney replied. “I slave away at the stove for what?” 

Geno stuck the tip of his tongue out at him. Sidney kind of wanted to bite it. 

Sidney brought his plate into the kitchen to rinse it off and put it in the dishwasher. The pots and pans had been dealt with as he was cooking. What was left he gave a quick wash and added to the dishwasher. 

When he went back into the dining room, Geno had his head tipped back on the chair, eyes closed for a moment. He didn’t look asleep, but he was just there in that moment being Geno, and Sidney wanted him. There was nothing special about the moment, just an acknowledgement of his state of being. 

“You done?” Sidney asked instead of any of the other things piling up behind his teeth. Geno observed him through barely open eyelids, like he could see all of Sidney’s thoughts. 

“Yes, thank you,” 

“No problem.” Sidney grabbed the empty plate and brought it into the kitchen to join the others. 

When he was done, Geno was leaning against the doorway to the kitchen. He had lost the suit jacket, leaving him only in his dress slacks and rumpled button-down shirt. 

“I like watching you work,” Geno said with a small smile. 

“Doing dishes?” Sidney fished. 

Geno rolled his eyes. “No, you hottest when pulling out intestines.” 

“Even decomp?” Sidney arched an eyebrow, but was unable to hold the expression at the way Geno’s nose scrunched up. Thing thing about decomp was that the smell stuck to skin and hair, following him around for the whole day like a particularly gruesome boomerang. Geno usually shoved at him until Sidney went to go wash again. 

“You best,” Geno said eventually, prompting Sidney to laugh. 

Sidney was still smiling when Geno approached him. Geno rested his arms across Sidney’s shoulders and Sidney let his hands fall to Geno’s waist. He didn’t hesitate to tug Geno’s shirt out from where it was tucked into his pants. There were miles of warm skin hidden just under there. Sidney slid one palm along the smooth skin so it was resting just so in the faint curve of Geno’s spine. 

Geno’s hands shifted so they were cupping his face. The kiss was soft, Geno just pecking at his lips teasingly. Sidney let him, content to let Geno take what he wanted. He was pretty invested in giving Geno whatever he desired. 

“I’m tired, Sid,” Geno said, the words fanning against Sidney’s face because they were so close. Sidney tilted his head up, looking for another kiss and finding it. 

“Go, brush your teeth, get ready for bed,” he said.

It was early still, but Geno didn’t look like he would last through the evening. Geno kissed him again, slowly, letting his tongue come out to flick against Sidney’s bottom lip in a soft tease. Sidney smiled into the kiss, pulling Geno’s head down so he was speaking against his cheek. 

“Go.” 

“Yes, Sid,” Geno replied.

Geno untangled himself and moved off towards the bedroom. Sidney was cold where Geno wasn’t touching him anymore. He busied himself with scooping the litter box and feeding Lord Stanley. 

When he got to the bedroom he found Geno coming out of the ensuite completely naked. Sidney couldn’t help the urge to do a slow once over and didn’t even want to. Geno had long feet with bony toes, skinny ankles and legs that went on for miles. He had a scar on his knee, a leftover injury from college sports. He was long everywhere, like someone made him and then just pulled in every direction. 

Geno cocked a hip out, drawing attention to his slim hips and thick dick. Even soft, he was a mouth-watering treat. 

“Eyes up here,” Geno joked. It was so lame Sidney just had to laugh. 

“I guess your eyes are okay,” Sidney said and grinned, “just brown.” 

Geno rolled said eyes. 

“You want, you have to do work,” Geno stretched his arms over his head, probably half because he needed to crack his shoulders and half to be a wicked tease. When he did that it pulled out the length of his chest showing off the neat sweep of his obliques and the lickable dip under his ribcage. 

Sidney’s kink was every curve and angle of Geno’s body and the endlessly fascinating way they changed when he moved. Sidney took apart bodies for a living but there wasn’t a single other person in the world like Geno. 

Sidney caught him in a kiss, soft and pliant with exhaustion. 

It probably said something negative about his personality that this did it for him too: Geno sleepy and accepting of the kisses Sidney pressed against his lips, lazily welcoming Sidney’s tongue into his mouth. 

Geno groaned against his mouth. 

“Sid,” He whined. 

“Yeah?” Sidney cupped Geno’s jaw with one hand. The other stayed wrapped around his shoulder so Geno was tilted down to meet Sidney’s lips. 

“Tired,” Geno complained. Sidney sucked on his bottom lip for a thoughtful moment, letting Geno come to the same conclusion Sidney had been thinking about since he saw Geno there surrounded by the sterile world of death. 

“Let me do the work then,” Sidney breathed, stilling long enough to let the implications trickle through Geno’s exhausted brain. 

“Ah,” Geno said with a smile that Sidney could taste on the next quick press of his lips. “I see.” Geno pulled back for a moment, looking down at Sidney. “Yes. Okay.” 

Sidney couldn’t help but pull him down into another kiss, one hand tangled in the dark curls at the base of Geno’s neck, the other managing to grab a palm full of ass. Geno’s legs were lanky but his ass was thick and lush. He skated with Sidney whenever they had free time and it showed. 

Geno groaned against his lips, pushing his tongue into Sidney’s mouth and turning their sweet kisses into something hard with undeniable intent. Sidney let the kisses slide into something filthy, sucking on Geno’s tongue softly. He moaned into the kiss, overwhelmingly pleased with the solid shape of Geno in his arms and against his chest. 

“Love you,” Sidney said, pressing the words against the corner of Geno’s lips. He said it casually from time to time, but really meant it in these moments where his whole world was narrowed down to Geno: the feel, the scent, and the taste of him. 

“Sid,” Geno moaned back, trying to smother him with his body. 

Sidney managed to topple Geno onto the bed. 

It was a monstrous thing, right in the middle of the room like a throne. The headboard was delicately wrought metal which cleverly hid places they could tie ropes to. 

Geno sprawled out artlessly. He looked up at Sidney through lowered eyelids. His mouth was an enticing red and his face already flushed. 

Honestly, Sidney didn’t know where to start. Geno wouldn’t push back when he was like this and that itself was exotic enough to be a treat. 

“I want to fuck you,” 

“Yes,” Geno groaned aloud. “I want.” 

Sidney could have him any way he wanted and he licked his lips at the thought. “Roll,” he commanded.

Geno sighed but flopped over onto his stomach obediently. 

The view from this angle was breathtaking: Geno’s thick ass, his trim waist, the vulnerable line of his knobby spine. Geno’s shoulders were wide and strong, like he could hold the world up if he wanted to. Sidney stroked the outside of his thigh gently, just looking his fill. Normally this would be when Geno kicked at him and demanded he get on with it, but instead Geno just melted into the bed with a little breathy sigh. 

Sidney almost didn’t want to disturb him--almost--but he wanted to fuck him more. He wanted to sink balls deep and make Geno moan for him, to give him something no one else could. 

Sidney grabbed the designated sex pillow and the lube and managed to get the pillow wedged under Geno’s hips despite a purposeful lack of cooperation. Sidney grinned and tugged on Geno’s hair lightly in retaliation. One eye gave him a sideways glare while the rest of Geno’s face was still mashed up against the mattress. 

“Sid,” Geno whined. Sidney’s lover was a giant, gorgeous _child_. 

“Yeah?”

When Geno turned to say something, Sidney blanketed him with his body, stretching up so he could just reach Geno’s mouth. The resulting kiss was a bit sideways and consisted mostly of Sidney pressing kisses and little bites against the side of Geno’s mouth. Geno simply accepted his weight, letting Sidney press him into the mattress. Sidney was heavy. He liked to keep in shape and was pretty much solid muscle but Geno never seemed to mind, just hummed and adjusted his legs so Sidney was nestled between them, his stirring dick pressed up against Geno’s ass. 

Sidney didn’t have any leverage with them pressed so close and when he rocked his hips it rocked both of them, providing only gentle pressure against his dick. Geno groaned and shifted around so he could get his arms up near his head and hold onto the blanket.

“Hold that,” Sidney murmured against the faint curls behind Geno’s ear. 

Sidney sat back on his feet and pulled his t-shirt over his head and tossed it toward the hamper. It sailed right into the middle and Sidney smiled where Geno couldn’t see him and make fun of him for it. Sidney pulled his own jeans down over his hips but had to get off the bed to take them off completely. Those got tossed on the chair for clothes which were not quite dirty enough to be washed yet. His underwear sailed into the hamper for the hat trick. 

The last chore was to snag a condom. He usually liked to come on or inside of Geno, but there was no way that either of them would be up for a full clean up tonight. He couldn’t help the visceral thrill of being able to see the proof. 

Geno let out a deep groan when Sidney rubbed dry fingers across his hole, watching it clench and relax with the rest of Geno’s body. Sidney couldn’t help the little smile that crossed his face and he did it again and again until Geno was completely relaxed. 

The lube was probably pretty cold when he worked it into Geno but Geno didn’t complain, just moaned wordlessly as Sidney began to finger him. He went straight for deep and searching thrusts and Geno’s back arched slightly into the stretch. Inside, Geno was soft, warm and tight, his muscles giving way for Sidney’s thick fingers. Geno whined when Sidney rubbed hard across his prostate, massaging over it in tight circles. 

Geno’s fingers flexed into the bedding, hips lifting up off the bed. 

Sidney pressed as deep as he could with two fingers and revelled in the breathy little gasp it earned him. Sidney did that a few more times until the resistance of Geno’s hole loosened up, tight still but enough give that Sidney would be able to work his dick in if he was careful. 

“Ready?” Sidney asked, rubbing his free hand down Geno’s flank. Muscle, bones and skin shifted softly under his hands. 

Geno took a shuddery breath and grunted. That was probably about as good as Sidney was going to get. Sidney rubbed his fingers on the edge of the towel covering the pillow that stuck out from under Geno until his fingers were clean enough to tear open the condom. He pinched the tip and slid it down, enjoying the feeling of his own fingers on his slick dick. 

His hand seemed dark against the winter-pale skin of Geno’s ribs where he was bracing himself. He could feel each one of Geno’s breaths as they moved under his fingers. Sidney used his other hand to steady his dick as he pressed the blunt head against Geno’s hole. There was always that moment where it seemed like it wouldn’t work, until Geno opened up around the head of his cock with a drawn-out moan. 

Sidney worked himself in with slow little pulses of his hips, pushing himself deeper and deeper with a steady rhythm. Geno opened up to him slowly, each thrust into tight heat testing his willpower. Sidney didn’t falter until he was resting flush against Geno’s ass, holding himself up with arms braced on either side of Geno’s shoulders. 

It was barely anything to shift his weight to one arm and tangle his fingers over Geno’s where they were twisted in the sheets. Geno let out a little happy sound. Sidney dipped down until he could press his face against Geno’s shoulders and leave little kisses there. 

The angles and leverage were all wrong but Sidney didn’t want to shift too much. He dug his knees into the mattress and flexed his core until he could grind in deep. Geno groaned, pushing back up against him as much as Sidney’s body smothering him allowed. 

Sidney could happily spend the rest of his life right here, just grinding into Geno over and over as sparks of pleasure crackled across his skin. He wanted to stay here with his chest rubbing Geno’s back and Geno’s fingers tightening on his when Sidney nailed him exactly right. 

“Sid, yes,” Geno said, voice muffled, the usual litany of praise falling from his lips, “yes, yes.” 

Geno gave up trying to push back into it, moaning as he lay there and took Sidney’s thrusts, clearly exhausted beyond words. Sidney nuzzled the back of Geno’s neck, scraping his teeth lightly over the soft hidden skin there. Geno’s gold necklace caught on his bottom lip and he pressed a kiss to it, thinking about the medals that hung from it to bring safety and protection. 

“Love you,” Sidney sighed. 

He needed more than just a dirty grind. There wasn’t enough friction; Geno’s ass was tight and hot but Sidney wanted more. He untangled their fingers so he could plant both of his hands in the bedding. Geno’s long fingers wrapped around his wrist. Sidney shifted so his weight was more on his knees than on Geno’s shoulders. This way he had more space to move. 

Geno held on to him with one hand, the other gripping the sheet as he moaned Sidney’s name. 

SIdney didn’t move faster, but he did get some space to pull out more, to put his glutes to the task of driving in. He could feel the echo of each thrust in the way that Geno’s body jolted under him. 

“There?” Sidney asked, knowing full well what the weak clench of Geno’s body meant. He focused on keeping his aim straight and movements smooth. 

He loved sex, loved it when they laughed and swatted at each other, loved it when they had the day off and they spent as much time fucking as they could manage. The heat of Geno’s body, the pound of his heart and the sparks that seemed to dance under his skin, the clench of his balls as he got closer and closer to coming--he loved all of it. He loved fucking Geno specifically, the way his skin felt under Sidney’s hands, the sound of his voice as he slowly lost it each time. 

Geno moaned long and low, shivering all over. Sidney grinned to himself, victorious. 

The pressure spiked, Geno tensed up with orgasm and Sidney rode him through it, keeping his pace unhurried. Geno went limp under him, groaning softly with every thrust into his overly sensitive body. 

“S- _id_ ,” Geno said, his voice hitching over Sidney’s name, soft and desperate. That was it, there wasn’t room to hold back any longer. Sidney broke his own pattern, transitioning into short hard jabs that had Geno whimpering and Sidney sucking his lip into his mouth. He teetered for what felt like forever, just on the edge of orgasm but not quite there—then it happened all at once. He closed his eyes against it, gasping shakily as he rode out the first overwhelming waves of it. 

Sidney was breathing fast, still braced on his arms over Geno’s body. He spent a while there just enjoying the residual lassitude in his limbs. Eventually he did move, gripping the base of the condom and pulling out. This earned a soft grunt from Geno who looked like he was doing his best to imitate a puddle. Sidney patted him on the lower back as he stood up. 

The condom went into the bathroom garbage. He splashed his hands in the sink and took a drink of water. In the bathroom mirror, his hair was messy and his face was still flushed. He looked freshly fucked and happy. His reflection showed a little smug curl to his mouth. 

“G?” Sidney asked softly when he returned to the bedroom. 

Geno had at least managed to roll himself out of the wet spot, pillow mashed up against his hip as he curled up slightly on his side. He was completely naked and had made no effort to get the blanket from the foot of the bed. 

Sidney’s grin turned into a full smile. He fished a new pair of boxers and a pair of pajama bottoms out of the dresser. It was too early for him to sleep.

There was a lazy hum ending in a question from Geno’s direction as Sidney sat down on the bed. 

He wanted to use the time to explore Geno’s body, all those scraps of skin he didn’t normally didn’t get the time to pay attention to. He wanted to stick his fingers where Geno would be bruised, where he was hot and puffy from being fucked, but Geno was barely awake now, looking at Sidney through slit open eyes. 

“Nothing,” Sidney said softly. He kissed Geno’s cheek and snagged the blanket to tuck him in. 

Sidney paused with his hand on the book he was almost finished reading. He had forgotten all about the case, the day, all the little things he had been anxious about. Hiding their relationship seemed hard in the light of day but when they were together it was worth everything. Things would work out. 

Geno hummed once more, smacking his lips together, probably most of the way asleep already. 

He opened his book, knowing that Geno was too tired to bitch about the light. Geno curled onto his side, the warmth of him against Sidney’s hip. 

When Sidney finally went to sleep, he knew that the blankets would be warm in the morning when he woke up for his run and he would probably need to untangle Geno’s octopus arms to escape.


End file.
